Help a noob find a board

[Yilijahsaurr]

I've been a skier all my life, but recently I got interested in the snowboarding scene and tried snowboarding. Fell in love with it right away. This was my first season boarding, and by my 5th day out on the slopes, I could go down Blue Squares comfortably without the "falling leaf" method and actually groom down the slope turning on my toe and heel edges. Now that the seasons over, I can't stop thinking about boarding, and have finally decided that I needed to take it to the next level by buying my own board. I've been trying to do the research on my own, but I've come across numerous brands(burton, forum, k2 etc) of boards and different styles of boards which made it a very stressful process to look for that perfect board. So I joined this forum in hopes that you guys can help me out.

I am 143 pounds
boot size of 9.5.
I feel like I'm a free ride or free styler.. but since I just started, I'm not sure on my riding style.. I love to cruise down the slopes; I think it's called "grooming", and am hoping in the future to start doing ground tricks(butters) and maybe rails. I don't think I'm going to be doing a lot of jumps.. Mainly because I'm scared I don't go to places with pow often so that rules out the Powder/alpine specific boards.(Please let me know what my style is)
I am willing to pay maybe $300-450ish on a board. (It doesn't have to be the newest model)

So in short, I'm just asking you guys to determine whether I should get a freeride or a freestyle board and to give me a place to start looking for that perfect board(brands)Or better yet, if you have a specific board for me in mind, please do share.

Thank you so much for your time.

[mtl20]

i bought a k2 raygun, its suppose to be a great board to progress on, and its pretty cheap too. And i dont hink you can know if you are a free rider or freestyler after 5-6 trip. I would buy an all-mountain board that can do both just like the raygun.

[david_z]

Agreed, you can't really know what your riding style is at this point.

safe bet would be to get a twin or twinnish all-mountain board, rocker or reverse camber, medium- to medium-stiff flex.

that'll narrow it down a little bit for ya. take that & find a couple boards you're interested in, come back with the list and that'll help everyone else help you figure out which is best. there's a big difference between $300 and $450 but there are plenty of good boards out there right around the $400 mark or even a little cheaper so that's within your budget. You might also luck out and find something on sale this time of year.

[booster]

I am in the same position. I have been snowboarding 7 times now, have had 5 lessons, and have progressed sort of quickly. I narrowed it down to K2 machete and GNU Carbon Credit. I went with the GNU Carbon Credit. I rode my buddies and it rode pretty nice (but what do I know? I am new and have only ridden rental boards). It is medium flex, comes in a wide version is you have a larger foot (size 11+), is considered all mountain but can have a lot of fun in the park, and has this magnetraction technology which allows for more points of contacts along the edge to help you hold an edge more (especially on icy conditions, which the east coast is full of). Anyways, hope that sort of helps, but take a look for yourself on the GNU Carbon Credit and the K2 Machete...both seemed like really good boards for beginners and something that would allow you to have fun on when you progressed into more intermediate or advanced riding.

[Snow_Ninja87]

Originally Posted by booster

I am in the same position. I have been snowboarding 7 times now, have had 5 lessons, and have progressed sort of quickly. I narrowed it down to K2 machete and GNU Carbon Credit. I went with the GNU Carbon Credit. I rode my buddies and it rode pretty nice (but what do I know? I am new and have only ridden rental boards). It is medium flex, comes in a wide version is you have a larger foot (size 11+), is considered all mountain but can have a lot of fun in the park, and has this magnetraction technology which allows for more points of contacts along the edge to help you hold an edge more (especially on icy conditions, which the east coast is full of). Anyways, hope that sort of helps, but take a look for yourself on the GNU Carbon Credit and the K2 Machete...both seemed like really good boards for beginners and something that would allow you to have fun on when you progressed into more intermediate or advanced riding.

yeah i had the same question like last week between lib tech skate banana and carbon credit. but i went with carbon credit.

[Snow_Ninja87]

Originally Posted by Yilijahsaurr

I've been a skier all my life, but recently I got interested in the snowboarding scene and tried snowboarding. Fell in love with it right away. This was my first season boarding, and by my 5th day out on the slopes, I could go down Blue Squares comfortably without the "falling leaf" method and actually groom down the slope turning on my toe and heel edges. Now that the seasons over, I can't stop thinking about boarding, and have finally decided that I needed to take it to the next level by buying my own board. I've been trying to do the research on my own, but I've come across numerous brands(burton, forum, k2 etc) of boards and different styles of boards which made it a very stressful process to look for that perfect board. So I joined this forum in hopes that you guys can help me out.

I am 143 pounds
boot size of 9.5.
I feel like I'm a free ride or free styler.. but since I just started, I'm not sure on my riding style.. I love to cruise down the slopes; I think it's called "grooming", and am hoping in the future to start doing ground tricks(butters) and maybe rails. I don't think I'm going to be doing a lot of jumps.. Mainly because I'm scared I don't go to places with pow often so that rules out the Powder/alpine specific boards.(Please let me know what my style is)
I am willing to pay maybe $300-450ish on a board. (It doesn't have to be the newest model)

So in short, I'm just asking you guys to determine whether I should get a freeride or a freestyle board and to give me a place to start looking for that perfect board(brands)Or better yet, if you have a specific board for me in mind, please do share.

Thank you so much for your time.

hey welcome to the snowboarding world well same for me its my first time too. but i was doing a lot of research before the season started. i know how it feels when picking a board because there is so much of them in the market. When i was doing my research I was steered to the direction of Lib Tech and GNU but both of them is under Mervin Manufacturing. I really believe in their boards thats why im gettin one of them, which is gnu carbon credit. I suggest do your research. And mostly its personal preference too. Like for example I was gonna go with burton but the boards I like is only compatible with their own bindings. And if you like a board do a research on it on youtube, some people do reviews on them and it will help you to decide. So good luck finding your board.

[winterfresh]

So you wanna cruise the groomers and play around with some butters and jibs. Sound like you need a twin with soft to medium flex. Arbor Draft, Capita Horoscope, Gnu CC, Yes Basic..obviously there are way more options but all of these retail right at $400 so you can find them even cheaper on line. If you see a lot of hardpack and ice then my opinion would be to go with the Gnu

[looking4snow]

Do you want to spend $300-450 for board only? Or board + bindings?
Yeah, Gnu Carbon Credit is a good choice for park riding. My friend had '08 model. Last year changed to Gnu Street Series '11, which is more jib specific. Gnu Park Pickle could be another choice, because won many awards. But there are so many good board manufacturers.

[Weezy32]

yay for noobs... ill be buying my board in April. Hoping to get a little more off season discount.


I am a noob to btw.

[metoo]

Originally Posted by Weezy32

yay for noobs... ill be buying my board in April. Hoping to get a little more off season discount.


I am a noob to btw.

One thing to watch out for is waiting too long. As time passes, boards will get cheaper but the popular ones will disappear and the size selection will be more limited.

Im more newb than any of you. After tons of research, i ended up with GNU Riders Choice. I dont plan on doing many tricks or park anytime soon, just riding with the occational switch and maybe some small jumps.